


Mend the Tear

by FallingStars5683



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Bonding, Domestic Fluff, Emotions, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Mild Language, Pants, damn this went south fast, meep morp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 22:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12142434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingStars5683/pseuds/FallingStars5683
Summary: A one-shot based on a writing prompt on Tumblr.Follow @writing-is-ruining-my-life for more.





	Mend the Tear

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably suck. Thank you for clicking.

"Have pants personally offended you or something?"

Peridot looked up from the latest episode of _Camp Pining Hearts_. Lapis had been digging through a bin of garbage, looking for new material for a meep morp, and had found the object that had currently captured her attention. A couple of shredded pieces of fabric? With those "alien" designs on them (at least that's what Steven had referred to that shape as. Humans had no real perception of what an alien actually looked like). They looked oddly familiar to Peridot, but she couldn't quite place why?...

Then she remembered.

These were the human shorts that Peridot had shredded upon Garnet catching her wearing them. Oh. Oh no. _No no nonono, why is Lapis holding them, put those down!_ She was out of her seat and jumping for the fabric before her brain fully registered what she was doing.

"Well, okay." Lapis smiled a little at the small figure straining for her upraised hands. "I didn't realize these were so important to you."

"It's not - _hrgh!_ \- that! They're - _ggh!_ \- just dumb - _**curse these short appendages!!!**_ "

"Then why are you freaking out this badly?"

Peridot finally stopped, realizing the futility of her actions, and sunk to the floor. Why was she freaking out this badly? It shouldn't matter, really. They were just shorts. So, it must be..."It's just embarrassing, I guess," she finally mumbled.

Lapis raised an eyebrow as she joined her barn mate on the floor. "Pretend like I don't know exactly how that feels."

Peridot sighed. "I mean...I found those shorts one day in a small storage device while doing 'chore(?)', and I kinda liked them, so I put them on. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but Garnet walked in on me while I was modeling them."

"That doesn't seem like the proper pretense for you to rip them violently from your body."

"This was before Garnet and I had the opportunity to fully talk. Before I really got why she stayed a fusion all the time."

"Ah. I guess it makes sense now." Lapis shifted her weight on the floor. "You know, that's about the reason I don't like people touching your 'Wow, thanks' morp."

"Wait. Really?" Peridot glanced over at the broken tape cassette recorder. "That's completely ridiculous," she scoffed. "You don't even like that one."

"No," Lapis agreed. "The memories it brings up aren't the nicest."

"I don't see why," Peridot said, genuinely confused. "You didn't like me at all then, and for undeniably justifiable reasons. I made you a prisoner in a place where you should have simply felt like home, and didn't even stop to consider how you would feel about it." She glanced at the ground. "I can't even say I was 'just following orders' anymore. It doesn't excuse my actions towards you. So...I'm sorry."

Lapis was stunned. Here she was, trying to open up to someone else to make them feel better, and they completely turned it around on her. "You don't understand! I'm embarrassed every time I look at that piece because I judged your character before I even got to know you! You had made such an effort to change - Steven was trying to help you win me over, for stars' sake - and I threw it out the window because I didn't want to give you a chance to prove yourself! I was every bit as jaded and cynical to you as I was to the Crystal Gems when I first met them, and you would think by that point I would have learned my lesson about that, but no! I'm still just a-" Tears sprung to her eyes as she fumbled for the right word. What was that one she had overheard Greg use during the harvest when Steven was out of earshot? "-a bitch, Peri! I'm just a bitch who never learns from her mistakes and j-just hurts good people for no reason!" By now, the tears were streaming down her face, though she made no effort to try to cover them, and Peridot was hugging her around the shoulders, unsure of what else to do.

"No, Lapis, you're not a 'bitch', whatever that means! If anything, that certainly derogatory term should apply to me, because look what I did! I treated you like a prisoner in your own home and justified it by referring to you as an informant! I disrespected and belittled every one of the Crystal Gems when all they've ever done was try their hardest to reach out to me! I pushed Mr. Universe off of a roof, Lapis!" She was crying now, too. "I didn't see these people for what they had made themselves to be, and let my Homeworld prejudices get in the way of having people in my life that I could truly call friends! If that's not a bitch, I don't know what is!" She stopped for a moment to wipe her wet eyes with a piece of the torn shorts, then offered it to Lapis. "That's why I don't like these shorts. I tore them apart because someone good that I saw as beneath me saw me wearing them, and my hubris wouldn't let me be seen like that by a permafusion. It took a while before I could humble myself enough to try to connect with any one of our friends - even Steven, who is so sweet it's almost sickening. So, you don't have to feel this way about yourself. If anything, I'm still surprised you can even stand to be in the same barn as me."

Lapis giggled. " _Even Steven._ "

Peridot blushed. "Did you even hear a word I said?!" she spluttered.

"Of course I did." Lapis dried her own face, then pulled away slightly. "And...I can stand to be in the same barn as you because I've grown to like you, Peridot. You really aren't the same narcissistic, cold-hearted gem I first met on Homeworld. You're the person now that I'm sure Steven knew you could be, and he's an amazing judge of character. It's...kind of cute, actually."

Once upon a time, if someone had dared to call Peridot cute, they would have faced the attack drones. But somehow, this felt different. Almost like there wasn't anything else in the universe that she would have been described as at that moment. It made her gem pulse and her face go warm. Lapis must have felt the same, because her face flushed a deeper shade of blue, and they looked away from each other awkwardly. They sat like that for a moment.

"So..." Lapis finally began. She wasn't sure how to phrase her next question. "If it's not too much to ask, could you tell me...how exactly you and Garnet settled your differences?"

Peridot coughed awkwardly into her hand. "Oh. Um. I almost fused with her."

Whatever Lapis had been expecting to hear, it was not that. She choked on the air passing through her body. " _ **What?!?!**_ "

"I know! It came out of nowhere! I had finally asked her to her face just why it was that she stayed fused all the time, and she offered to fuse with me to help me understand. In the end, I couldn't go through with it, but she told me that basically, she was Percy and Pierre."

" _Ohhh._ " The analogy made a lot of sense to Lapis, considering she had been subject to Peridot's famous rant about that very topic several times. "Well...would you feel more comfortable with fusing now?"

Peridot thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure. It would have to be with a gem that I really trusted, though. Not just any old Rutile would do."

Lapis stood. Peridot wasn't sure why until a hand was extended to help her up. Lapis's face was on fire as she asked, "would you like to try it now, maybe, with me?"

Peridot looked up at her. Her face was completely unreadable, and Lapis worried that maybe she had gone too far before Peridot accepted the hand. "With you? Any time."

Lapis pulled her barn mate up, then swept her into her arms and swung her around like a child. Both were laughing uncontrollably when their bodies glowed white and melted together, becoming one with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I poured a lot more of my own emotions into this piece than I was really expecting to for a one-shot. Good Lord.  
> Also, the name I'm giving the Lapidot fusion (just for myself) is Turquoise.  
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Send me feedback at fallingstars5683.tumblr.com


End file.
